New Communications System Platform

GNP announces its first pre-configured CompactPCI (cPCI) platform for development and field deployment of voice- and data-network infrastructure applications for the wireless and wireline markets.

GNP, a developer of system framework architectures for the embedded control and communications market, announced its first pre-configured CompactPCI (cPCI) platform for development and field deployment of voice- and data-network infrastructure applications for the wireless and wireline markets.

According to the company, its Network Controller contains all the hardware and system software required for developing and deploying powerful network communications solutions. Housed in a GNP ComputeNode chassis, the Network Controller platform is an off-the-shelf building block for Network Equipment Providers (NEPs) to develop diverse communications solutions.

The Network Controller may be built on a 2U, 3U or 4U GNP ComputeNode chassis configuration and includes: Sun Microsystems' Netra CP2040 cPCI processor board with a 500 megahertz UltraSPARC II processor and 512 megabytes of memory; Sun's Solaris 8 Operating Environment; redundant hot-swappable power supplies; an efficient cooling system; a built-in alarm card; and disk storage. For particularly demanding applications, one or more Netra CP2060/CP2080 satellite processors can be included for additional processing power.

Hard disk storage is either a 20GB PMC-mounted drive or one to two high-performance 36GB SCSI drives, depending on the ComputeNode chassis chosen. The high slot density inherent to GNP's ComputeNode provides up to seven open expansion slots, depending on whether the ComputeNode 2U, 3U or 4U configuration is used. Pricing in small quantities starts at approximately $8,000. For more information on GNP's products and services, visit the company web site at www.gnp.com.